Basketball in 2003

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In 2003 San Antonio’s Tim Duncan spelled the end for the Los Angeles Lakers’ budding dynasty. Duncan’s phenomenal performance propelled the San Antonio Spurs past the Lakers in the National Basketball Association’s Western Conference play-offs, but that was just a warm-up for the 2.13-m (7-ft) dynamo who already had powered his team to the Midwest Division title in the 2002–03 regular season. In the end, his brilliance doomed the New Jersey Nets to defeat by four games to two in their second straight NBA finals loss.

New Jersey breezed through early play-off foes to repeat as Eastern Conference champions. When the Nets won game two of the finals 87–85 in San Antonio (after losing game one 101–89), their fans expected guard Jason Kidd to spearhead a breakthrough on his home court. Duncan simply refused to let it happen.

After winning game three 84–79 and then narrowly losing 77–76, the Spurs took the pivotal fifth game on the road by a score of 93–83 and returned home to wrap up the championship on June 15 before an ecstatic throng of 18,797 in the SBC Center. In the decisive sixth game, Duncan strung together 21 points, 20 rebounds, 10 assists, and 8 blocks. With his team trailing 72–63 in the fourth quarter, he turned the game around with a blocked shot. The Spurs went on a 19–0 scoring spree in the next 5 minutes and 10 seconds to seal their 88–77 triumph and the NBA title. The fans joined in savouring this farewell gift to retiring Spurs veteran David (“the Admiral”) Robinson.

Duncan was named series Most Valuable Player in addition to garnering his second straight regular-season MVP honour. Amaré Stoudemire of the Phoenix Suns beat out Houston’s Chinese phenomenon Yao Ming (seeBiographies) as Rookie of the Year.

After their play-off ouster, the Lakers signed veteran free agents Karl Malone and Gary Payton to team with superstars Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal in a lineup many touted as unbeatable. On July 18, however, Bryant was indicted on criminal sexual assault charges, and a pall of gloom was thereby cast over the Los Angeles franchise and the entire world of pro basketball. Bryant, hailed as the NBA’s most marketable athlete because of his playing skills and squeaky-clean image, had just signed a $45 million endorsement pact with sportswear giant Nike.

In June the new franchise Charlotte Bobcats, owned by African American business tycoon Robert Johnson (seeBiographies), was officially unveiled. The team would begin playing in the 2004–05 season.

In the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), the Detroit Shock pulled off a courageous comeback to capture the 2002–03 championship. In the opener of the best-of-three final play-offs, the Shock got trounced 75–63 by the Los Angeles Sparks, who were bidding for their third straight league crown. Responding with the same tenacity displayed by their coach, Bill Laimbeer, in his professional career, the Shock regrouped to take game two 62–61, setting up a winner-take-all showdown in the Palace of Auburn Hills. Thanks to the splendid shooting of 1.96-m (6-ft 5-in) centre Ruth Riley, the Spark prevailed 78–53 before a crowd of 22,076, the largest in WNBA history. Riley, who had led Notre Dame to the 2001 national championship, hit on 11 of 19 shots from the floor for a career-high 27 points. “This was the best basketball game I’ve ever played,” said Riley, while confetti rained down on the celebrating Shock.

College

In 2003 the third time finally proved to be the charm for Coach Jim Boeheim and his Syracuse Orangemen. In the final of the National Collegiate Athletic Association championship in the New Orleans Superdome on April 7, Syracuse repulsed a frantic closing charge by the University of Kansas to prevail 81–78 and present Boeheim with his first NCAA title.

During the tournament, number three seed Syracuse unleashed a giant-killing spree through higher-ranked opponents by blending its seamless 2–3 zone defense with the all-court brilliance of freshmen Carmelo Anthony and Gerry McNamara. The Orangemen upset number one seed Oklahoma 63–47 in the East Regional final. Then they disposed of the South Region’s top seed, Texas, 95–84 in their Final Four matchup. Kentucky and Arizona, the tournament favourites, got knocked off by Marquette and Kansas, respectively, in the other regional finals.

In his 27 years at Syracuse, the longest tenure among active Division I head coaches, Boeheim had won 652 games, but his team had been turned back twice on the doorstep of an NCAA crown. Kansas Coach Roy Williams had met with equal frustration in three previous trips to the Final Four. After routing Marquette 94–61 in the semifinal, the second-seeded Jayhawks were equally motivated against Syracuse, with the Superdome crowd of 54,524 anticipating a bitter struggle. Instead, the Orangemen, from the Big East Conference, unleashed a blistering attack to open a 53–42 lead at halftime, the highest-scoring first half in NCAA tournament history. The Jayhawks, from the Big 12 Conference, pulled to within three points of the lead at 81–78 only 14 seconds before the end but failed in two more attempts to score.

Thanks to a combined 38 points from Anthony and McNamara, Syracuse finished with a 30–5 record and gave its coach the 653rd and most rewarding victory of his career. As expected, Anthony elected to drop out after just one college season to enter the NBA draft; he was picked third overall and signed with the Denver Nuggets. Nick Collison paced the Jayhawks (30–8) with 19 points and 21 rebounds. Soon after the tournament ended, Williams departed to take over for Matt Doherty at North Carolina. Kansas quickly lured one of the nation’s best young coaches, Bill Self, from Illinois to take over.

In women’s basketball, the Connecticut Huskies, under Coach Geno Auriemma, capped an awesome 37–1 season by defeating six-time champion Tennessee (33–5) by a score of 73–68 in the women’s NCAA tournament final. It was UConn’s second straight national championship and fourth overall, despite having lost four starting players from the 2001–02 team. Diana Taurasi added the Final Four Most Outstanding Player laurels to her national Player of the Year award. In the final she sparked the Huskies with 28 points while shaking off back and ankle injuries.

The Fédération Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) national team competitions that dominated the sport in 2003 were played with an eye toward the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. By October 2003 all 12 qualifiers for the men’s Olympic tournament had been decided. Greece, the host country, and Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), the 2002 world champion, would be joined by the qualifiers from the five continental championships—Angola, Argentina, Australia, Italy, Lithuania, New Zealand, China, Puerto Rico, Spain, and the United States.

After European nations had taken three of the top five places in the 2002 world championships, there was heightened interest in the 2003 European championships. Lithuania won the title for the first time since 1939, defeating defending champion Serbia and Montenegro 98–82 in the quarterfinals and France 74–70 in the semifinals. In the final, guard Arvydas Macijauskas led Lithuania with 21 points in the 93–84 win over Spain. Italy qualified for the Olympics by beating France 69–67 in the bronze-medal game.

Australia swept New Zealand in the three-game Oceania championship series, although both had already qualified for the Olympics. National Basketball Association star Yao Ming (seeBiographies) led China to a 7–0 sweep in the Asian championships, beating South Korea 106–96 in the final. Angola qualified by defeating Nigeria 85–65 in the African final.

The U.S. responded to its sixth-place finish in the 2002 world championships (which broke a 58–0 winning streak in FIBA competitions) by cruising through the Tournament of the Americas in San Juan, P.R., with a record of 10–0 to qualify, along with Argentina and Puerto Rico. The U.S. avenged its 87–80 world championship defeat by crushing Argentina 106–73 in the final, while the home crowd roared Puerto Rico to the final Olympic slot with a 79–66 third-place win over Canada.

Greece and the U.S., the 2000 Olympic champion, led the women’s qualifiers. By October they had been joined by Australia, Brazil, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, Russia, and Spain. Australia and New Zealand had already qualified, while in the Americas tournament Brazil defeated Cuba 90–81 to qualify. The women’s European championships were staged in Greece in September. Russia won its first European title since the breakup of the former Soviet Union by beating the Czechs 59–56, while Spain overcame Poland 87–81 to qualify. This left one African and three Asian qualifiers to be determined.